Building a Better Online Business

Creating and managing your online business requires you to follow the same basic principals of any business - relying on sound Business Strategies. There are however, a few practices that differ or that just are unique to an online business. Here we share our views and experience with you to help you develop a more effective and profitable online business.

How many times do we see this sort of promotion by supposedly reputable and professional web developers. You are promised professional design and fully
featured websites that are supposed to match all the features of competitors charging several thousand dollars.

All I can say is “If it sounds too good to be true… it isn’t”. Building a professional website for your business is serious business. Let’s
understand right up front, it is not a simple and straight forward task. Why? Because this is all about your business projecting the right message
and delivering a facility that is of value to your customers and your business.

Quite simply – websites are dead – this is the age of online
business solutions where your brick and mortar business and your online presence are brought together creating a synergy that operates as a single
entity. Your business can’t operate in isolation of your web systems and they in turn can’t operate in isolation of each other. It is simply too ineffective
and inefficient. It will cost you too much to do otherwise either by way of direct costs for systems and people or the indirect costs of working with
so many disparate systems in such an inefficient manner.

Your web presence is NOT about sticking up a 1 page brochure on the internet and expecting any sort of reasonable result. Your website is reflecting your
corporate brand – it is out there very clearly stating what you represent, what you are about and what your values are. It is about integrating all
the different business processes, marketing channels and information management systems in a way that delivers value to your market and to you.

Do not think that just because you are a small business that this all sounds like it is just for the boys at the big end of town. Even small businesses
have contact lists, they do some form of marketing, they utilise social media, send emails, announce product specials, send out information to customers
and prospects. The list goes on and if you think it is effective to manage all of these without some sort of strategy that brings them together in
an efficient manner you are asking for trouble.

To make any sort of reasonable living allowing time for research and development, administration, marketing, product development, service delivery, business
development and supporting your clients, do you really believe you can expect to be charged less than $100 per hour for such service offerings? We
would suggest not. Not if you expect a professional solution provided by a business who will be there to support you in your business. Support is crucial
and don’t believe that it isn’t.

So a $300 web site? Not really. Well certainly that won’t be all you pay and once you get into what you really want you will find the costs rise substantially
and what is put to you is a collection of bits and pieces held together by sticky tape. This is not a business solution that will work in your business.

If you are serious about your business (and we assume that you are…) then you want someone who takes you seriously and provides real professional
business solutions that deliver to your business outcomes. Top Left Designs do just this. We know business,
we come to know your business and then we deliver real online business solutions presenting an integrated web solution that works with your business
in a cost effective manner.

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Greg Tomkins

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Greg has been involved within the IT industry for over 40 years at all levels of business systems analysis, design, project management and consulting across some of Australia's largest and smallest organisations.

He brings a wealth of business and IT skills to the table delivering real world advice, solutions and experience which he loves to share.

All our articles are originally written and pitched at business people.

They are written to help you better understand what we do as web developers and designers to bring about the desired results you seek in the performance of your website. Our articles are provided so as to empower you with better information so you might make better decisions

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BC Closure Status Updates

It is with much regret that we have been advised of the closure of Business Catalyst by Adobe in a public announcement of the 26th MArch 2018. Please visit our
STATUS UPDATE
page to see what we ae doing to assist our clients with the transition to a new platform. All current sites will remain uneffected until 26th March 2020.